Automatic railway-switch.



PATENTED' JAN. 13, 1903.

w. R. & 0. M. MURPHY. AUTOMATIC RAILWAY SWITCH.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 17, 1902.

2 SHEETS-SHEBT 1.

N0 MODEL.

m: nanms PETERS co. Pwo'wumo. wAsnluomu. u c.

I PATENTED JAN. 13, 1903. W. R. & 0. M. MURPHY.

AUTOMATIC RAILWAY SWITCH.

APPLICATION rrmmmm. 17, 1601' no uomin. z SHEETSSHEIBT z.

THE uomns Przns no. FNOTD-ILITHQ. WINBTDN, 0. c1

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WVILLIAM MURPHY AND CHARLES M. MURPHY, OF ST., LOUIS, MISSOURI.

AUTOMATIC RAILWAY-SWITCH.

SPECIFICATIQN forming part Of Letters Patent No. 718,503, dated. January13, 1903.

Application filed March 1'7, 1902. Serial No. 98,659. (No modelJ.

TootZZ whom it may concern:

Beit known that we, WILLIAM R. MURPHY and CHARLES M. MURPHY, of the cityof St. Louis,State ofMissouri,haveinvented certain new and usefulImprovements in Automatic Railway-Switches, of which the following is afull, clear, and exact description, reference being had to theaccompanying drawings, forming a part hereof.

Our invention relates to automatic railwayswitches; and it consists ofthe novel construction, combination, and arrangement of partshereinafter shown, described, and claimed.

Our object is to construct an automatic railway-switch, and ourinvention comprises the combination, with a movable switch-rail, of aconnecting-rod mounted to slide transversely under the track andconnected to the free end of the movable switch-rail, bell-crank leversmounted .one on each side of the track and connected to the ends of saidconnecting-rod, straight levers pivotally mounted one on each side ofthe track somedistance from said bellcrank levers, cords connecting thebell-crank levers to the straight levers, shoes slidingly mounted insideof the rail and connected to said straight levers, a tubular armextending downwardly from the car-bed, a trip or plunger slidinglymounted in said tube in position to engage and move said shoes, atoggle-joint connecting the trip to the car-bed, and a hand or footlever connected to said toggle-joint for operating the trip to open orclose the switch..

Figure 1 is a plan of a piece of railway-track, showing our improvedautomatic switch in position for use with the switch open to send thecars on the main line. Fig. 2 is a view analogous to Fig. 1 with theswitch closed to send the cars on the side track. Fig. 3 is athe line 6of Fig. 5. I

Referring'to the drawings in detail, the rail 6 forms part of themainline, the rail 7 forms a part of the side track, and the removableswitch-rail 8 throws the cars on the side track when desired. Theconnecting-rod 9 is mounted underthe track, transversely of the track,and a pin extends upwardly through the slot 10 and connects to the freeend of the removable switch-rail 8. The bell-crank levers 11 and 12 aremounted one upon each side of the rail 6,with their forward endsconnected to the ends of the connecting-rod 9. Plates 13 and 14 areembedded into the railway-bed, and pivots 15 extend upwardly from saidplates through the elbows of the bell-crank levers. The straightleversl6 and 17 are pivotally mounted one upon each side of the rail 6 andsome distance from the bell-crank levers. The plates 18 and 19 areembedded into the track-bed, and the pivots 20 and 21 extend upwardlyfrom said plates through the centers of the levers 16 and 17. The cords22 and 23 connect the outer ends of the levers 16 and 17 with thetransverse arms of the bell-crank levers 11 and 12. The shoes 24 and 25are mounted upon the inner flange of the rail 6, and arms 26 extenddownwardly through slots 27 in said flange, the lower endof said armsbeing connected to the inner ends of the levers 16 and 17, respectively.

Referring to Fig. 4, the tubular arm 28 extends downwardly and forwardlyfrom the car-bed 29, and a brace 30 connects the center of the arm 28with the car-bed. A trip 31 is slidingly mounted in the arm 28, and aspring 32 is inserted around said trip to hold the trip normallyelevated. A toggle-joint 33 connects the upper end of the trip 31 to thecar-bed 29. A bell-crank lever 34 is pivotally mounted under the forwardend of the car-bed. A connecting-rod 35 connects the lower end of thebell-crank lever to the toggle-joint. A pin 36 is, vertically mountedthrough the car-bed to operate the bell-crank lever, and a step 37,fixed upon the upper end of the pin, provides means for operating thetrip by foot-power.

Referring to Fig. 5, the hand-lever 38 is substituted for the bell-cranklever 34,;th pin 36, and the step 37.

When the car is approaching the switch, the motorman will operate thehand or foot lever to straighten the toggle-joint and throw the tripdownwardly to engage the shoe 25. Then the forward motion of the carwill move the shoe 25 forwardly, thus pulling the cord 22, operating thebell-crank lever 12, moving the connecting-rod!) to the right, andclosing the switch, as shown in Fig.2. If itis desired to open theswitch, the trip will be operated to engage the shoe 24, sliding saidshoe upon the flange, thereby operating the lever 16 to pull the cording22 and operate the bell-crank lever 11, move the connecting-rod 9 to theleft, and open the switch, as shown in Fig. 1. A shoe 39, having ahemispherical lower surface, is fixed upon the lower end of the trip-rod31 to engage the rounded ends of the shoes 24 and 25 and to slide alongthe upper surfaces of the flange of the rail.

WVe claim In a device of the class described, the connecting-rod 9mounted under the track transversely of the rail, and having a pinextending upwardly through the slot 10 in the flange of the rail, andconnecting to the free end of the movable switch rail; the belloranklevers 11 and 12 mounted one on each side of the rail and connected tothe ends of the connecting-rod 9; the plates 13 and 14 embedded into thetrack-bed; pivots connecting the bell-crank lovers to the plates; theplates 18 and 19 embedded into the trackbed; pivots 20 and 21 extendingupwardly from the plates; the straightlevers 16 and 17 0 mounted uponsaid pivots; the cords 22 and 23 connecting the outer ends of the levers1G and 17 with the transverse arms of the bell crank levers 11 and 12;vthe shoes 24 and 25 mounted upon theinner flange of the rail,

and having arms 26 extending through the slots and connecting with theinner ends of the levers l6 and 17, said shoes being in the same runningline, so that the switch is thrown first one way and then the other by

